No deal is better than a bad deal

When you get excited about an idea, it's easy to ignore any potential red flags coming your way.

If you have a possible 1099 opportunity coming your way, especially your first one, you'll start dreaming about what you're going to do with the extra free time or money or whatever.

You start discussing the project the program manager and you'll think to yourself "oh the rate is lower than what I wanted but that's okay" and "I can handle the extra 30 minutes of commuting" or "I've dealt with worse clients."

Then you take the job and you're underpaid with a terrible commute and a terrible client.

Yes, you succeeded at getting a 1099 gig, but your life may now be worse than it was as a W2.

No 1099 gig is perfect, but make sure you get the important things you want from a project and don't ignore the potential deal breakers.

Being willing to walk away from any single deal will ultimately lead to better projects and a better lifestyle because no deal is better than a bad deal.